Medical News Summary: Early treatment of shingles can reduce risk of developing a painful condition

About: Early treatment of shingles can reduce risk of developing a painful condition
Date: 18 January 2005
Source: Yuma Sun
Author: Paul G. Donohue, M.D.
Medical News Summary (summary of medical news story as reported by Yuma Sun): The varicella-zoster virus can cause chicken pox (usually in children) or shingles (usually in adults). Even after a chicken pox infection has passed, the virus remains in to body and can reactivate and travel to nerve roots in skin where it can cause the skin rash and pain typically associated with shingles. This condition is called postherpetic neuralgia and is frequently misdiagnosed as shingles. Immediate diagnosis and treatment of shingles with drugs such as Famvir, Valtrex or Zovirax can speed up recovery and reduce the risk of developing postherpetic neuralgia.
URL: http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_14313.php
Related Disease Topics: Varicella-zoster virus, Chicken pox, Shingles, Postherpetic neuralgia (type of Neuralgia)
Related Symptom Topics: Skin rash, pain, nerve pain

Related Medical News Channels: This medical news summary article refers to the following medical channel categories:

Virus
Infectious disease
Infection
Diagnosis and varicella-zoster virus
Diagnosis and chicken pox
Diagnosis and shingles
Diagnosis and postherpetic neuralgia
Diagnosis and skin rash
Diagnosis and pain
Misdiagnosis (type of Medical misadventure)
misdiagnosis and shingles
misdiagnosis and postherpetic neuralgia
risk and postherpetic neuralgia
risk and shingles
cause of skin rash
cause of pain
cause of nerve pain
Risk and nerve pain
Misdiagnosis and nerve pain
Diagnosis and nerve pain
Medication
medication and varicella-zoster virus
medication and chicken pox
medication and shingles
medication and postherpetic neuralgia
medication and skin rash
medication and pain
medication and nerve pain

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